MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Toledo junior point guard Marreon Jackson seemed to have everything in his offensive arsenal working against Central Michigan on Tuesday night at McGuirk Arena.
The 3-pointers were free-flowing as Jackson hit 7-of-9 beyond the arc. The mid-range game was effective with an assortment of runners, floaters, and pull-up jumpers and the finishing was there as well on drives to the basket.
When all was said-and-done, Jackson scored a career-high 37 points to carry Toledo to a 93-81 victory over the Chippewas.
“I recently had injured my knee so I was a little sluggish,” Jackson said. “But it felt great today and I didn't have to even play with my knee brace and my teammates were just getting me open looks...Me being a 6-foot-1 point guard, the floater is a lost game and I've always promised myself and pushed myself to master that technique.”
Jackson had the magic touch, shooting 67 percent from the field (12-of-18), 78 percent from the 3-point line (7-of-9) and 100 percent from the free throw line (6-of-6).
“His pace of play is unbelievable,” Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk said. “For the most part is decision-making is good and he's not turning it over. He's a high-level scorer – a great shooter. He's playing great and at the end of his junior year that's what he should be doing.”
Jackson had help on Tuesday night from Spencer Littleson with 18 points, Luke Knapke with 15 points, and Willie Jackson with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
“Marreon Jackson was special,” Kowalczyk said. “I love what Spencer is doing when he is just all over the floor. Willie went for another double-double and Luke Knapke I thought had a really big game for us. So our four captains led the way.”
After a win on Saturday at Western Michigan, Toledo (14-14, 6-9 MAC) has now won back-to-back games for the first time since wins at Akron and Ohio on Jan. 18 and 21 respectively.
Central Michigan (13-14, 6-8 MAC) got 19 points each from David DiLeo and Rob Montgomery as well as 18 points from Devontae Lane, 11 points from Dallas Morgan, and 10 points from Kevin McKay.
After the game was tied at 4-4 early on, Central Michigan went on a 14-1 run to open up an 18-5 lead after a jumper from Morgan.
Toledo then answered with a 10-0 run of its own on 3-pointers from Littleson and Keshaun Saunders. Saunders also finished a fast-break dunk off a Littleson steal and Dylan Alderson closed out the run with a driving layup that cut the Chippewas lead to 18-17.
“Once they were up 14-4 I thought the key was Spencer Littleson's defense on DiLeo,” Kowalczyk said. “We got a couple stops and we scored in transition and got our swagger back and that was the key to the game.”
After the teams battled back and forth, the game was tied on six different occasions before a DiLeo 3-pointer gave Central Michigan a 38-35 lead with 2:15 remaining in the opening half.
Toledo scored the next eight points on two free throws and a 3-pointer from Littleson followed by a 3 from Marreon Jackson that gave the Rockets a 43-38 lead with 1:14 left in the half.
Central Michigan's Lane made two free throws to cut the lead to 43-40 with 1:01 left. But Toledo scored the final four points of the half on two free throws from Marreon Jackson and a tip-in from T.J. Smith just before the halftime buzzer that gave the Rockets a 47-40 edge headed into the locker room.
“Tonight we had a bad start with our turnovers early on,” Kowalczyk said. “Once we got a feel for their offense and got that corrected I thought we played unbelievably efficient. We scored 93 points and moved the ball.”
Central Michigan scored the first six points of the second half to cut the Toledo lead to one point early on and later tied the game at 60. But Toledo went on a quick 7-0 spurt on five points from Marreon Jackson and two from Alderson.
A DiLeo 3-pointer cut the Toledo lead to two points at 70-68, but that was as close as the Chippewas would get as Toledo answered with another 7-0 run and didn't look back.
At the end of the day, Marreon Jackson's offense was too much for Central Michigan coach Keno Davis and the Chippewas.
“He hit hard shots, he hit easy shots, and he hit medium shots,” Davis said of Jackson. “We tried different ways to stop him, but whatever we did didn't work, so if we play him again we'll try something different.”
With just three games remaining in the regular season, Toledo is fighting for positioning in the MAC tournament with its sights set on hosting a first-round game and making a post-season run.
“It's a very huge win getting momentum headed into the tournament,” Marreon Jackson said. “Everyone on our team knew that we were going to reach our peak later in the season because of the young guys on our team that we do have and we are coming together as we said we would.”
First Published February 26, 2020, 3:08 a.m.
